Some Thorns, Some Roses

II | Alright...

While having a great support system is great, not everything could be solved with their help or their presence. Most things I had to face on my own and some battles had to be fought alone. Fortunately after my two eldest brothers graduated high school, I learned how to stand up for myself.

"What do you mean by 'he got acquitted because there wasn't any substantial evidence'?" I exclaimed, looking at my principle with wide eyes. "I'm pretty sure I came to you with this problem nearly two years ago!"

"I understand your frustration, Miss Holden." my principle started, sighing deeply. "But we can't not hire him because we could get sued for not doing our jobs properly."

"Doing you jobs properly?! Understanding my frustration?!" I screamed even louder, feeling my voice echo throughout the room. I stood up out of my chair and popped on my feet. "If you understood my frustration you wouldn't have hired him. You could have at least made sure to keep me out of his classes. If you were doing your job properly this wouldn't have happened in the first place!"

"You need to lower you voice Ms. Holden-"

Most importantly, I learned how to stand up for others as well. I would not allow anyone to silence my feelings because before, it would happen and I could not do much to stop it. Now I have the power to do more. I have the power to help myself and help others, which is my most impressive skill I've gained during my Senior year.

"And you need to raise yours Principle Sweeney! Even if he doesn't try to do it to me again, who says someone else won't be subject to such abuse?" I made my point, which caused him to raise to his feet.

"Who says I haven't raised my voice?!" he asked, finally appearing to be enraged as well. "I don't want him just as much as you, but school teaches you far more than academics Ms. Holden. It teaches you to handle situations that aren't exactly fair. I am sorry, but he is the only Senior Physics teacher this semester. Next semester I will make sure that you will not have any interaction with Mr. Cox. I apologize for you discomfort, truly I do."

I took a deep breath and walked away before I did something I couldn't take back. Once I left his office, I didn't realize that first period was over until I saw students swarming the halls. During my sophomore year I unfortunately was sexually harassed by my teacher, Mr. Cox. It was one of the most terrifying experiences in my entire life. Seeing him again on my first day for my Senior year was not the worst start that could have happened. I was not scared of him anymore, not at all.

I knew that Perris would protect me and he would help me if there was an altercation. I was not scared for me. And even if I did not have Perris, I have PJ and Auggie, who were going to have an interaction with Mr. Cox eventually.

I was scared for the other girls in the school who weren't as lucky as me to have two protective older brothers.

PJ walked up to me, noticing I was walking out of Sweeney's office. "What happened? What's wrong?" he asked me, looking concerned and his eyebrows knitted together.

I knew that his next period was Mr. Cox so it would be best to warn him now. "Mr. Cox is the Senior Physics teacher for the year..." I answered and walked to my locker where Seraphina was standing with my things. She was nice enough to grab my backpack and my binder that I had left on the desk. She was even nice enough to grab my phone.

"Mr. who now?!" PJ nearly shouted, following me with wide and angry eyes. He definitely heard me, but I was still going to tell him.

"Mr. Cox is back because there was no evidence so he's here."

He grabbed my arm, trying to get me to stop, but I snatched my arm away from him, continuing walking to Seraphina.

Once I finally got to my locker, Angel had this worried look on her face. "Where'd you go earlier, you scared me. I thought something bad was happening." she explained and I huffed unlocking my locker and grabbing my new set of books for my next period.